8 Forms of Waste in a Foundry Shop and

Strategies for Elimination

In order to eliminate or reduce waste, we need to look at the

different types.

➢ The First type is non-value added and unnecessary for the system to function.
Administration, inspection, and reports are examples of activities that do not add value to the
product or service.

➢ The Second type is described as non-value added, but necessary for the system to function.
For example, to sell oil overseas, it must be transported by an oceangoing vessel, which does
not add value to the product, or similarly the travel cost of lean consultant going to Uganda
would not be value added. However, both the transportation and travel costs are necessary for
the activity to occur.

➢ A Third type of waste is due to unevenness or variation in quality, cost, or delivery. An

excellent example of this concept is given by Taguchi loss function. As the quality
characteristic varies from the target value, the cost increase.

➢ The Fourth types of waste is caused by overstressing people equipment, or the system.
Continually using equipment without proper maintenance will lead to a breakdown, or
continually requiring overtime will lead to poorer performance and burnout.

Elimination of waste leads to improved quality, cycle time, cost, and most
important, customer satisfaction.

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 8 Categories of Waste

1. DEFECTS:
Defects occurs when the product is not fit for use. This typically results in either reworking or
scrapping the product. Both results are wasteful as they add additional costs to the operations
without delivering any value to the customer.
Here are four Countermeasures for defects. Firstly, look for the most frequent defect and focus
on it. Secondly, design a process to detect abnormalities and do not pass any defective items
along the production process. Thirdly, redesign the process so that does not lead to defects.
Lastly, use standardize work to ensure a consistent manufacturing process that is defect free.

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2. OverProduction:
Overproduction occurs when manufacturing a product or an element of the product before it is
being asked for or required. It may be tempting to produce as many products as possible when
there is idle worker or equipment time. However, rather than producing products just when they
are needed under the ‘Just In Time’ philosophy, the ‘Just In Case’ way of working leads a host of
problems including preventing smooth flow of work, higher storage costs, hiding defects inside
the WIP, requiring more capital expenditure to fund the production process, and excessive lead-
time. Additionally, over-producing a product also leads to an increase in likelihood that the
product or quantities of products produced are beyond the customer’s requirements.

In an office environment, overproduction could include making extra copies, creating reports no
one reads, providing more information than needed, and providing a service before the
customeris ready. Manufacturing overproduction involves producing more products than
demanded through a ‘push production system’ or producing products in higher batch sizes than
needed.

There are three Countermeasures for overproduction. Firstly, using a ‘Takt Time’ ensures that
the rate of manufacturing between stations are even. Secondly, reducing setup times enables
manufacturing small batches or single-piece flow. Thirdly, using a pull or ‘Kanban’ system can
control the amount of WIP.

3. Waiting:
The waste of waiting includes: 1) people waiting on material or equipment and 2) idle
equipment. Waiting time is often caused by unevenness in the production stations and can result
in excess inventory and overproduction.

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In the office, waiting waste can include waiting for others to respond to an email, having files
waiting for review, ineffective meetings, and waiting for the computer to load a program. In the
manufacturing facility, waiting waste can include waiting for materials to arrive, waiting for the
proper instructions to start manufacturing, and having equipment with insufficient capacity.

Some Countermeasures for waiting include: designing processes to ensure continuous flow or
single piece flow, leveling out the workload by using standardized work instructions, and
developing flexible multi-skilled workers who can quickly adjust in the work demands.

4. Transportation:
Waste in transportation includes movement of people, tools, inventory, equipment, or products
further than necessary. Excessive movement of materials can lead to product damage and
defects. Additionally, excessive movement of people and equipment can lead to unnecessary
work, greater wear and tear, and exhaustion.

In the office, workers who collaborate with each other often should be close together. In the
factory, materials necessary for production should be easily accessible at the production location
and double or triple handling of materials should be avoided.

Some of the Countermeasures to transportation waste includes developing a U-shape

production line, creating flow between processes, and not over-producing work in process (WIP)
items.

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5. Inventory:
Often times it is difficult to think about excess inventory as waste. In accounting, inventory is
seen as an asset and oftentimes suppliers give discount for bulk purchases. But having more
inventory than necessary to sustain a steady flow of work can lead to problems including:
product defects or damage materials, greater lead time in the production process, an inefficient
allocation of capital, and problems being hidden away in the inventory. Excess inventory can be
caused by over-purchasing, overproducing work in process (WIP), or producing more products
than the customer needs. Excess inventory prevents detecting production-related problems since
defects have time to accumulate before it is discovered. As a result, more work will be needed to
correct the defects.

In-office inventory waste could be files waiting to be worked on, customers waiting for service,
unused records in a database, or obsolete files. Manufacturing inventory waste could include
broken machines sitting around, more finished products than demanded, extra materials taking
up work space, and finished products that cannot be sold.

Some Countermeasures for inventory include: purchasing raw materials only when needed and
in the quantity needed, reducing buffers between production steps, and creating a queue system
to prevent overproduction.

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6. Over-Processing
Over-processing refers to doing more work, adding more components, or having more steps in a
product or service than what is required by the customer. In manufacturing this could include
using a higher precision equipment than necessary, using components with capacities beyond
what is required, running more analysis than needed, over-engineering a solution, adjusting a
component after it has already been installed, and having more functionalities in a product than
needed. In the office, over-processing can include generating more detailed reports than needed,
having unnecessary steps in the purchasing process, requiring unnecessary signatures on a
document, double entry of data, requiring more forms than needed, and having an extra step in a
workflow.

One simple way to Counter over-processing is to understand the work requirements from the
standpoint of the customer. Always have a customer in mind before starting work, produce to the
level of quality and expectation that the customer desires, and make only the quantities needed.

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7. MOTION:
The waste in motion includes any unnecessary movement of people, equipment, or machinery.
This includes walking, lifting, reaching, bending, stretching, and moving. Tasks that require
excessive motion should be redesigned to enhance the work of personnel and increase the health
and safety levels.

In the office, wasted motion can include walking, reaching to get materials, searching for files,
sifting through inventory to find what is needed, excess mouse clicks, and double entry of data.
Manufacturing motion waste can include repetitive movements that do not add value to the
customer, reaching for materials, walking to get a tool or materials, and readjusting a component
after it has been installed.

Some Countermeasures for motion include making sure the workspace is well organized,
placing equipment near the production location, and putting materials at an ergonomic position
to reduce stretching and straining.

8. Skills-The 8th Waste:

Even though it was not part of the Toyota Production System (TPS), many people are well aware
of the 8th waste - the waste of human potential. The 8th waste is also described as the waste of
unused human talent and ingenuity. This waste occurs when organizations separate the role of
management from employees. In some organizations, management’s responsibility is planning,
organizing, controlling, and innovating the production process. The employee’s role is to simply
follow orders and execute the work as planned. By not engaging the frontline worker’s
knowledge and expertise, it is difficult to improve processes. This is due to the fact that the
people doing the work are the ones who are most capable of identifying problems and
developing solutions for them.

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In the office, non-utilized talent could include insufficient training, poor incentives, not asking
for employee feedback, and placing employees in positions below their skills and qualifications.
In manufacturing, this waste can be seen when employees are poorly trained, employees not
knowing how to effectively operate equipment, when employees are given the wrong tool for the
job, and when employees are not challenged to come up with ideas to improve the work.

Identifying and Eliminating the 8 Wastes

The first step to reducing waste is recognizing that they exist and having an effective process for
identifying them. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a Lean management method for analyzing
the current state and designing a future state. It shows the flow of information and material as
they occur. VSM is an effective tool for mapping out the processes involved, displaying the
relationship between production processes in a visual manner, and for separating value-added
and non-value-added activities.

In order to identify wastes, use the VSM and start with the end customer in mind. Work
backwards from the end customer to the start of the production processes. Document instances of
the 8 wastes in the processes and develop a plan for eliminating or reducing them. Continue
challenging your team to find more wastes and continuously improve your processes. Engage
with the frontline workers and elicit their ideas for improvement. As your team begins reducing
efficiencies they will gain more confidence in their problem-solving capabilities and over time
reducing waste becomes a part of their daily routine.